SLS 11RS-521 ORIGINAL
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Regular Session, 2011
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON NO. 11
BY SENATOR BROOME
LEGIS POWERS/FUNCTIONS. Designates May 4, 2011, as Teen Pregnancy Prevention
Day and May, 2011, as Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month.
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON1
To designate May 4, 2011, as Teen Pregnancy Prevention Day and May, 2011, as Teen2
Pregnancy Prevention Month.3
WHEREAS, more than seven hundred thousand teenagers become pregnant each4
year in the United States; and5
WHEREAS, the United States has the highest rates of teen pregnancy and birth in6
the full industrialized world; and7
WHEREAS, after fourteen years of decline, the national teen birth rate rose by five8
percent between 2005 and 2007; and9
WHEREAS, in Louisiana over eleven thousand girls between fifteen and nineteen10
years of age became pregnant in 2005; and11
WHEREAS, births to teens count for nearly seventeen percent of all births in12
Louisiana and ninety-five percent of teen births are to unmarried teens; and13
WHEREAS, only approximately seventy percent of pregnant teens receive prenatal14
care, while eighty-five percent is the average for women in Louisiana; and15
WHEREAS, Louisiana encourages its young people to complete their education,16
achieve independence, become productive and contributing members of society, and remain17
sexually abstinent until marriage, and recognizes that teen pregnancy and childbearing may18 SCR NO. 11
SLS 11RS-521 ORIGINAL
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compromise these goals; and1
WHEREAS, a child is nine times more likely to grow up in poverty if he is born to2
unmarried teen parents who have not yet completed high school; and3
WHEREAS, less than half of mothers who have a child before they turn eighteen4
years of age ever graduate from high school, and less than two percent of mothers who have5
children before eighteen years of age have a college degree by the age of thirty; and6
WHEREAS, Ginger Douglas, Miss Red River City in the Miss America7
Organization, is a senior at Central High School and is promoting teen pregnancy prevention8
as her platform; and9
WHEREAS, raising awareness and understanding of this complex issue and the10
importance of helping teens avoid unintended pregnancy can contribute to the future11
reduction of teen pregnancies and help to build stronger families and a healthier society.12
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby13
designate May 4, 2011, as Teen Pregnancy Prevention Day and May, 2011, as Teen14
Pregnancy Prevention Month.15
BE IF FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to16
Ginger Douglas.17
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Jerry J. Guillot.
DIGEST
Broome SCR No.
Designates May 4, 2011, as Teen Pregnancy Prevention Day and May, 2011, as Teen
Pregnancy Prevention Month.